UCLA sets sights on USC now that Rose Bowl is out of focus

The UCLA Bruins want to make this clear: That they’re no longer playing for roses won’t make them any less amped for Saturday’s 5 p.m. visit to USC.

“It’s Southern Cal,” said senior linebacker Anthony Barr. “If you can’t get up for this one, you don’t belong in the locker room. Pack your bags. Go home. We don’t want you.”

It has come down to this, a fitting Hollywood arc stretched across 13 miles of Los Angeles sprawl. USC’s season, once left for dead at an LAX parking lot, has soared with the deep-throated croak of interim coach Ed Orgeron. UCLA, unabashed about its Rose Bowl aspirations, couldn’t repeat as the Pac-12 South champion.

Dec. 7 will come hard for these Bruins (8-3, 5-3), who believed so fervently that they would earn one more crack at the Granddaddy of Them All. Instead they’ll watch Arizona State face Stanford for the conference title and the rights to New Year’s Day.

A win over USC may at least dull the pain.

Take receiver Shaq Evans, for instance. Two months ago, the senior wideout blustered on ESPN radio about wanting to “embarrass” the Trojans, about the Schadenfreude he felt in watching them stumble. With USC now resurgent, any margin of victory would suffice.

“That would be a saving grace,” Evans said Saturday night, less than an hour after Arizona State clinched the division with a 38-33 win. “That would help this loss a lot. Anytime you can beat those guys across town, it’s a great feeling. Especially to do it on their home turf for the first time since ... I don’t even know.”

UCLA last won at the Coliseum in 1997, a 31-24 victory before a booming crowd of 91,350. Cade McNown threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns, including a 38-yard go-ahead score in the third quarter. It was seventh of an eight-year win streak — one that remains the longest in the rivalry by either team.

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Since then, the Trojans (9-3, 6-2) have taken 12 of the last 14 meetings. The Bruins ended a five-game losing streak with last year’s 38-28 decision. Knocking off USC — which opened as a 3.5-point favorite — in back-to-back seasons would quell any talk of a one-year fluke.

“It’s the SC game,” defensive end Cassius Marsh said. “We take pride in being the best team in L.A. We’re the reigning champs right now, and I think it’s extremely important to us and our fanbase that we win that game.”

Regardless of Saturday’s result, the Bruins will head to an afterthought of a bowl. Their most probable destination looks like El Paso for a New Year’s Eve date with an ACC also-ran. Among the possible opponents are Boston College or Virginia Tech. The Eagles lost to the Trojans by 28, while the Hokies to the Eagles by seven. Neither matchup would inspire blue and gold masses to pack the Sun Bowl.

A win over USC is what changes the tone of the season. It puts UCLA on the precipice of 10 wins, a mark it hasn’t reached since 2005. It provides more evidence that the program is growing under Jim Mora. That, even if the Bruins are not yet ready for national contention, they have at least solidified their place atop the city.

Asked whether or not that will help when the team isn’t on a field on Jan. 1, Marsh was ambivalent.

“I think no matter what, it’s going to hurt,” he said. “No matter what we do, it’s going to hurt. But I think the SC game will help the wounds heal. It may make us forget about it a little bit.

“But for us seniors, who don’t have any more college football to look forward to, we’re always going to remember the fact that we didn’t get to go to the Rose Bowl. It’s tough.”